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Wedding From Hell? Breathe Easy

August 08, 1993

In Business This Week

WEDDING FROM HELL? BREATHE EASY

It's the morning of your wedding. The limo is due in two hours. And your dress...well, your dress is covered with fingerpaint, since your nephew decided white was boring. Before you feed him to the rottweiler, remember: You're insured. Fireman's Fund Insurance Co., which pioneered medical insurance for pets, now offers the $129 wedding catastrophe policy.

If the Big Day goes badly, Fireman's will pay up to $3,000 of newlyweds' unreimbursable costs. That includes up to $1,000 for damage to wedding attire--which the company's British affiliate paid to a woman whose cat gave birth on the train of her dress. Photographs are covered, too: If the film gets stolen, the policy pays to reshoot the wedding party. Lousy pictures are your problem, however. And so is a change of heart. If either party gets last-minute cold feet, Fireman's Fund doesn't pay. Says a spokesman: "We can't underwrite love."EDITED BY KEITH H. HAMMONDS